• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.337-342
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• 2017

Background: Workplace violence (WPV) against healthcare workers (HCWs) employed in psychiatric inpatient wards is a serious occupational issue that involves both staff and patients; the consequences of WPV may include increased service costs and lower standards of care. The purpose of this review was to evaluate which topics have been focused on in the literature and which are new in approaching the concern of patient violence against HCWs employed in psychiatric inpatient wards, in the past 20 years. Methods: We searched for publications in PubMed and Web of Science using selected keywords. Each article was reviewed and categorized into one or more of the following four categories based on its subject matter: risk assessment, risk management, occurrence rates, and physical/nonphysical consequences. Results: Our search resulted in a total of 64 publications that matched our inclusion criteria. The topics discussed, in order of frequency (from highest to lowest), were as follows: "risk assessment," "risk management," "occurrence rates," and "physical/nonphysical consequences." Schizophrenia, young age, alcohol use, drug misuse, a history of violence, and hostile-dominant interpersonal styles were found to be the predictors of patients' violence. Conclusion: Risk assessment of violence by patients appeared the way to effectively minimize the occurrence of WPV and, consequently, to better protect mental HCWs. We found paucity of data regarding psychologic sequelae of WPV. According to these findings, we suggest the need to better investigate the psychologic consequences of WPV, with the aim of checking the effective interventions to assist HCW victims of violence and to prevent psychologic illness.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.228-235
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• 2024

Background: Glove reuse poses risks, as chemicals can persist even after cleaning. Decontamination methods like thermal aeration, recommended by US OSHA, vary in effectiveness. Some studies show promising results, while others emphasize the importance of considering both permeation and tensile strength changes. This research advocates for informed glove reuse, emphasizing optimal thermal aeration temperatures and providing evidence to guide users in maintaining protection efficiency. Methods: The investigation evaluated Neoprene and Nitrile gloves (22 mils). Permeation tests with toluene and acetone adhered to American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) F739 standards. Decontamination optimization involved aeration at various temperatures. The experiment proceeded with a maximum of 22 re-exposure cycles. Tensile strength and elongation were assessed following ASTM D 412 protocols. Breakthrough time differences were statistically analyzed using t-test and ANOVA. Results: At room temperature, glove residuals decreased, and standardized breakthrough time (SBT)₂ was significantly lower than SBT₁, indicating reduced protection. Higher temperature decontamination accelerated residual removal, with ∆SBT (SBT₂/SBT₁) exceeding 100%, signifying restored protection. Tensile tests showed stable neoprene properties postdecontamination. Results underscore thermal aeration's efficacy for gloves reuse, emphasizing temperature's pivotal role. Findings recommend meticulous management strategies, especially post-breakthrough, to uphold glove-protective performance. Conclusions: Thermal aeration at 100℃ for 1 hour proves effective, restoring protection without compromising glove strength. The study, covering twenty cycles, suggests safe glove reuse with proper decontamination, reducing costs significantly. However, limitations in chemical-glove combinations and exclusive focus on specific gloves caution against broad generalization. The absence of regulatory directives on glove reuse highlight the importance of informed selection and rigorous decontamination validation for workplace safety practices.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.151-156
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• 2012

Objective: In 2010, the rate of injuries and illnesses in the shipbuilding industry was 1.20, about 1.74 times higher than the average of overall industries(0.69). Musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs) became a major problem since 2000 in shipbuilding industry. The purpose of this study was to provide efficient implementation management through evaluating the economic effectiveness of the Musculoskeletal Disorders Prevention Program(MDPP). Successfully implementing the MDPP in the workplace may decrease the risk of MSDs and therefore reduce MSDs related costs. Methods: Occupational accident index (frequency rate, severity rate, and frequency severity indicator), estimated direct costs, and total occupational accident occurrence rate were provided by analysis of MSDs, statistical analysis of MDPP decreed companies, and data analysis of implementation. Results: The study shows the number of MSDs for MDPP decreed companies decreased 76.2% from 2,319 in 2004 to 551 in 2008. Above all, the number of MSDs decreased 78.7% in Shipbuilding industries. Forty companies (85.1%) showed a decreasing tendency and 27.7% of those had an $R^2$ > 0.7. Similar results were found in severity rate and frequency severity indicator. From these results, it appears there are a number of advantages in implementing the MDPP. Conclusion: MDPP effectiveness was demonstrated by analysing implementation and occupational accident index. A more effective and efficient implementation would take into account business sector, size, policy, and organization of the company.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.141-153
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• 2009

This study is focused on the residential spaces that the elderly wish to renovate and their willingness to improve residential environment as they grow old. The analysis shows, first, the most inconvenient places as they grow old are the stairs, following by the toilet and the bath. Second, the place that the elderly most wish to renovate is the floor, upgrading floors with non-slippery materials. And they wish to remove the height differences on the floor to protect them from tripping over, upgrade the floor plan for their convenience and renovate the storage and working spaces at the kitchen and dining areas. The more the government supports the costs of the residential renovation service, the more the elderly are willing to use the renovation service. The factors influencing their willingness to residential renovation are health, residential environment, experience to accidents and their allowances. The elderly who experienced accidents inside their residence are more willing to renovate their house. Even though the elderly wish to renovate their houses, it's not carried out due to the financial difficulties and the lack of information. Thus, the government should share the useful information about residential renovation for the safety of the elderly and find a way to raise money to cover the costs of the renovation.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.539-542
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• 2008

Wireless sensor network devotes to improving energy efficient and reducing energy costs.We have to monitor in building for 24hours not to incur expansive energy costs in case of problem about a thermostat of buildings or logistics warehouse. It is to incur serious problems of safety of keeping products and a waste of energy. In this paper, establishes a logistics warehouses system based by Zigbee technology to solve that problem.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.10 no.1 s.20
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• pp.9-14
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• 2004

Many lighthouses have been built for safety navigation of vessel, but the management of lighthouses had to paid for maintenance costs. For that reason, the remote control system for the lighthouse is to be used, but the communication expense is very expensive because of the use of satellite communication network or the RF communication network Also, the state of lighthouse is difficult to analyze as transmit only measured data. Therefore, this paper embodied the remote control system for the lighthouse using CDMA method, that was extended to island area and we verified the effectiveness of the proposed system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.213-217
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• 2009

Weather factors affect cost increases and progress management under construction. Because progress schedule is delayed by weather factors, the construction costs are increased. It is an essential element to control the progress schedule applying weather factors to the progress management. This study applies monthly working-day percentages which is estimated by databases of past weather information to RTPM system. Through do progress management in construction projects exactly, will try to minimize risk of process control that do that is to weather factors. Also, will compare calamity in safety supervision side that do that is to weather factors beforehand. Based on the factors and the expected impact of factors together with the weather data during the last 50 years in Seoul region gathered from Korea. Through it, calculated number of month working day of RCA's structural steel work. Studied way that apply to RTPM system.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.209-233
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• 2013

With an annual growth rate of about 30%, wind energy systems, such as wind turbines, represent one of the fastest growing renewable energy technologies. Continuous structural health monitoring of wind turbines can help improving structural reliability and facilitating optimal decisions with respect to maintenance and operation at minimum associated life-cycle costs. This paper presents an integrated monitoring system that is designed to support structural assessment and life-cycle management of wind turbines. The monitoring system systematically integrates a wide variety of hardware and software modules, including sensors and computer systems for automated data acquisition, data analysis and data archival, a multiagent-based system for self-diagnosis of sensor malfunctions, a model updating and damage detection framework for structural assessment, and a management module for monitoring the structural condition and the operational efficiency of the wind turbine. The monitoring system has been installed on a 500 kW wind turbine located in Germany. Since its initial deployment in 2009, the system automatically collects and processes structural, environmental, and operational wind turbine data. The results demonstrate the potential of the proposed approach not only to ensure continuous safety of the structures, but also to enable cost-efficient maintenance and operation of wind turbines.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.182-189
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• 2008

In private and public construction works, cost estimation and site productivity management are based on designed labor quantities calculated by the Standard Quantities per Unit (SQU). The designed labor quantities are regarded as the basis for insurance costs and safety and environmental costs and also affect the progress measurement of construction works. Even though the designed labor quantities from the SQU has been considered to be different from actual labor quantities put to construction works, there is no research that empirically analyzes the statistical differences. This study analyzes actual labor quantities of form workers, steel-bar fabricators, concrete pourers in reinforced concrete works of the 43 apartment projects, and compares the actual labor quantities to labor quantities from the SQU. It goes further to scrutinize the critical reasons underlying the differences through a survey on 65 practitioners and interviews with 32 site managers and supervisors. The regression models of labor quantities of the apartment concrete work produced by the present study will contribute to reasonable construction contracts based on the past actual costs and practical site management by the actual labor quantities.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.81-113
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• 2009

This study conducted a regulatory impact analysis regarding the introduction of the Korean version of REACH(Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals). The direct cost of the Korean REACH is estimated at a total of 101 billion Korean won over the 11 year period. The cost includes pre-registration, testing, registration, Chemical Safety Assessment(CSA) and Chemical Safety Report(CSR), evaluation, and the authorization costs of 15,223 chemical substances produced and imported more than 1 ton per year in Korea in 2006. With regard to the benefit, the only public health benefit is included in the estimation. Based on the available foreign and domestic data, this study estimated that the economic values of public health benefits are in the range of 33.2~138.6 billion Korean won if only the savings of the National Health Expenditures are considered and it reaches 203.9~1,640.3 billion Korean won if the willingness to pay(WTP) for disease prevention is included. This study proved that the Korean REACH passed the cost/benefit criteria. The benefit-cost ratio of the Korean REACH, however, is estimated to be lower than its EU counterpart. Thus it is suggested that a rigorous study to reduce the costs to industry be required before the Korean government introduces the Korean REACH.